Healing
by Sailor X1
Summary: *Info on the Sequel has been added* Ok, that title really stinks but oh well. Um, it's basically a typical Kurt/Kitty focusing mainly on Kurt and his 'fur issues.' Not amazingly original but this is my first fanfic ever so cut me some slack
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: not mine...ext ext  
  
  
  
Ok everybody, this is my first fanfic ever so please forgive me if its terrible. I'll take any and all  
  
reviews even if you hated it (although it would be nice if it was constructive stuff hehe). So let  
  
me know what you think and hope you like it. : )  
  
  
  
"Person talking out loud"  
  
'Personal thought'  
  
~Telepathy~  
  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Kurt rolled over restlessly in his bed, scowling at the bright red digits on his clock. 3:30 A.M. He was beginning to think he had some form of insomnia. His roommate, Evan, always slept like a rock and not even Kurt's endless tossing, which occasionally led to soft thumps as he ended up on the floor, could make Evan stir.   
  
The possibility of heading downstairs to get something to eat crossed his mind but he quickly shoved the thought aside. It seemed that someone in the mansion was always going through either a phase of insomnia, a nightmare, or some type of personal disaster, and was down at the kitchen. It was the social hangout after midnight and Kurt, for once, was in no mood to be social, particularly with Kitty Pryde.   
  
He sighed into his pillow. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to Kitty, it was just that lately she had been bugging him worse than ever about ditching his image inducer. Her speeches on "showing your true self" were even longer than Amanda's. 'Well their true selves doesn't involve fangs and blue fur now does it?' He sighed again. He really couldn't figure those two out. He used to have feelings for Kitty, but since Amanda came along he had kinda forgotten about them. Maybe it was just that he liked Amanda so much or maybe it was because Amanda actually shared his feelings. Funny how much of a difference that could make. He tried not to think about it too much. It just made him confused. But when you can't sleep, and the only thing you can do is stare at your clock, the mind does tend to wander.   
  
Amanda had been acting different lately. She always seemed like her mind was preoccupied and Kurt got the feeling that she wasn't paying much attention to him a lot of the time. It was getting harder and harder to spend time with her outside the halls of Bayville High as well. After the catastrophe of meeting her parents, Kurt didn't totally blame them for not wanting Amanda to see him anymore, but it still stung that they had been so terrified of him, even after he had behaved like a perfect gentlemen the whole evening.  
  
Groaning, he finally decided he had to do something before he died of boredom. Whoever was in the kitchen would just have to deal with his crankiness, which was a rare thing anyways. He noisily yanked the covers off of himself. Casting a jealous glare at Evan, he headed toward the door.   
  
As he expected, the kitchen was already occupied. Jean Grey was bent over a few books and writing furiously when Kurt plopped down a few chairs away. Jean glanced up and flashed him a tired grin, not really surprised to see that someone else had joined her.  
  
"Forgot some homework," she explained, "Woke up about and hour ago and remembered I hadn't done it."  
  
Kurt laughed a little, his crankiness was slowly subsiding now that the annoyance of not being able to sleep started rubbing off.  
  
"I hate zat. Especially when you are really tired and don't want to deal wiz it."  
  
Jean nodded and pushed her books away from her. "I'm glad you're here. I needed a break. So what brings you to the after hours social hall?"  
  
"Couldn't sleep." Kurt said shrugging, "I think insomnia is like a virus around here or somezing. It just jumps from one person to za ozur."  
  
Jean laughed and rolled her eyes. She poised her pen over he paper again then paused. "Is something the matter?"  
  
Kurt raised an eyebrow and glanced around. "Did you just..."  
  
"No," Jean interrupted, "You know I don't just randomly sift through people's thoughts. It's just you don't seem as..." She paused, not sure what the right word was, "animated as usual. That's all."  
  
Kurt laughed nervously. He wasn't sure if he should be offended. "Is animated supposed to be a good sing, or just a polite way to ask why I'm not being obnoxiously loud and nosey?"  
  
It was Jean's turn to let out a nervous laugh. "Well not exactly, but sorta. You're just usually slightly, um, hyper."  
  
Kurt shrugged and decided he didn't need to be insulted. "I just have a lot on my mind. It's nozing serious."  
  
Jean nodded and started to write again. She sighed and put her pen down. "Can I ask you one more thing?"  
  
Kurt nodded.   
  
"Well, why is it that you're always so...so..."  
  
"Hyper?" Kurt finished for her. He grinned and revealed his sharp fangs. Their menacing look really didn't suit him, but a lot of the girls in the mansion secretly liked them. They made him look more mysterious than dangerous. Kurt on the other hand despised them. Not only did they scare people, it also made kissing a very laborious job for him. Amanda didn't have a clue, but he never really focused on the kiss, which made things more or less one sided. He had decided it was better than tearing Amanda's lip to bits though.  
  
Jean sheepishly looked down at the table. "Yeah, I guess."  
  
Kurt knew the answer to her question but wasn't really sure how to explain it. He squirmed and Jean noticed the unease on his face.   
  
"It's ok, you don't have to answer that. I'm sorry."  
  
"No, no. I don't mind. I'm just not sure what say." Kurt bit his lip in frustration. "It's complicated."  
  
Jean just looked at him and Kurt considered letting her just read his mind, but then thought better of it. She would probably get more than she bargained for if they opted for that route. Instead he just started talking.   
  
"See, when I vos little and supposed to be bouncing of za walls like average little boys do, I vos trying to make sure no one knew I even existed. People were terrified of me. I had to learn to never attract any attention to myself or people would...well zey just wouldn't be very nice to me. The circus helped some, but even there only a small group of people excepted me. So when I came here, and found out zat no one in the mansion really minded zat I looked the way I do, it was like being let out of a cage. I had to be quiet and try not to be noticed for so long zat I guess all that time of not being noticed just took over at once. I know I'm a leetle, err, over za top sometimes, but I just love za attention. I just never really got enough of it so I feel like I've got to make up for lost time or something. I am trying to tone it down a bit zo. I sink Rogue may try and sap all my energy one of these days just to get me to shut up."  
  
Kurt looked up from the napkin he had been fidgeting with throughout his speech and gave Jean a half smile. Jean was looking at him, clearly surprised.   
  
"Ja, I know. It's a lame excuse, but..."  
  
"It isn't though." Jean cut him off. "I think it makes a lot of sense. It's just not the answer I was really expecting is all. I figured you hadn't really thought about it much."  
  
Kurt cleared his throat so that he wouldn't laugh. The truth was he had thought about it a lot. He was glad Jean hadn't brought up how he was when he first came to the institute. He had needed to learn social graces basically from scratch because he had never practiced them. Once the professor convinced him that he didn't need to hide himself and that no one would do awful things to him because of his appearance he had his first chance to act how he really wanted. He was proud of himself to some extent because he knew how far he had come. Even when others, particularly Rogue, got annoyed with him, he could just brush it off.   
  
"So, vhy'd you ask?"   
  
Jean laughed and held up one of her books. "I'm working on sociology homework It just so happens the topic is on different personality types, and what causes them." Kurt smiled as Jean gathered her papers and books. "Well, I'm off to bed. Sorry if I offended you or anything."  
  
"Not at all," Kurt replied.   
  
Jean nodded and headed for the door. "Oh, by the way Kurt, Scott and I have to be at school early tomorrow so you'll have to give Kitty a ride to school in the morning." She checked to make sure Kurt had heard her then exited in a whirlwind of red hair.   
  
Kurt groaned. So far had been able to get out of toting Kitty back and forth, but he couldn't avoid it any longer. He had almost forgotten that Kitty was one of the reasons he couldn't sleep but now she was rushing through his mind again. He really did miss talking to her, but he was afraid of two things. One, her lectures about his inducer and two, being reminded of all the things he liked about her. The last thing he wanted was to mess up what he and Amanda had because of Kitty. Looking up at the clock he decided he had better get some sleep before it wasn't even worth trying anymore. With a soft 'BAMF' he was gone. 


	2. 2

Ok, I know nothing actually happened in the last chapter...but here ya go.  
  
Kitty rolled over in defeat as she switched her alarm clock off. It wasn't set to go off for another half hour yet, but she couldn't fall back asleep and there was no point in waking Rogue until later.   
  
Kitty stumbled across the room and gathered all of her shower stuff, phasing through things so she wouldn't trip over herself and she went. She and Rogue really needed to tidy the room up a bit. There were clothes, magazines, and cosmetics everywhere. Hoping that no one was there yet, she headed toward the bathroom. Showering was a major problem in the mansion. There was only one bathroom for each hall, and when you were trying to get as many as eight teenagers ready to leave early in the morning, it got slightly crazy. Logan had been working on the problem for a few weeks now, but he wasn't exactly a skilled plumber, and his efforts didn't do the students any good for the time being. So for now, the kids all had to rotate wether or not they would shower in the morning or at night, and wether they would take an early shower or a late one. Kitty was on the late morning rotation, but she figured it wouldn't be a big deal if she messed up the schedule this early.   
  
She sighed and tried to blink the sleep out of her eyes. She could hear the water running from inside the bathroom and considered going back to bed. She shook her head. She was usually late enough, even on the early bathroom schedule, she might as well not risk it. She leaned against the wall and rapped on the door to signal that someone was waiting. A few minutes later she heard the water stop running and someone humming faintly from behind the door. Seconds later, Kurt opened the door, eyes closed and head back, singing full out now. He wrapped his towel tighter around his waist and prepared to start two stepping when he nearly fell on top of Kitty.   
  
"AH! Oh, Keety, I didn't know you ver vaiting," Kurt said in surprise.  
  
Kitty bit back a laugh. "No problem. I woulda just let you phase through me and you wouldn't have had a clue. You were really into that song."  
  
If it had been possible, Kurt would have blushed, but through his blue fur, it was a lot harder to do.  
  
"Anyvay, I'm taking you to school zis morning, so don't be late," Kurt instructed as he began to head to his room.   
  
Kitty's eyes lit up. She was so sick of riding with Jean and Scott. Sure they were her friends and all, but she was really tired of them always flirting and claiming they weren't. It seemed they were never to thrilled about having to take Kitty along with them either.   
  
She looked back at Kurt, who was halfway down the hallway, and grinned. The years he had spent with the circus had been very kind to him. There wasn't a muscle on him that wasn't clearly defined. His image inducer didn't do him any justice, he looked downright scrawny with it. Come to think of it, it was hard to know how buff he actually was with all that fur. It wasn't until the whole mansion had gone swimming the previous summer that it was publically decided that the elf was cut. With his fur all stuck to him, it wasn't difficult to see how strong he was. Scott had been the first to say something. Kitty thought that Scott was actually a little jealous. He had always been thought of as the strongest until then. Kurt seemed more or less confused when Scott asked him when he had gotten to be so cut. He had just shrugged and reminded Scott that he was an acrobat after all.  
  
She sighed and phased through the bathroom door, too lazy to open it. She knew Kurt probably wasn't that thrilled about having to take her to school today either, although he would never show it. He was too nice for his own good sometimes. She had really been being a pain about his cursed inducer. She wondered for a second if the real reason she was so against it was that she'd rather look at the real Kurt instead of his scrawny hologram. Man, she certainly was selfish if that was the case. She considered apologizing on the ride to school if it was just the two of them.   
  
A knock on the door signaled that she needed to hurry and she quickly finished up, knowing that if it was Evan, she'd end up with a spike through the door in a few seconds. He wasn't exactly a morning person. He had been back with them for some time now, but no one had talked to him about his experiences in the tunnels with the morlocks. To her knowledge, the teachers were the only ones who knew what had gone on. He was back to his normal self again for the most part, but he had been really strange at first. The professor and Storm had kept him home for a month before they let him even go back to school.   
  
He had an image inducer now too. His hands now had thick bone covering them, and a row of round, blunt spikes ran all the way down his back. Two plates of bone had formed above his cheek bones and around his eyes too. It was hard to hide the dull protrusions on his back, and he wore a jacket to school most of the time to keep others from noticing the odd shape. 'He may as well ditch his watch too. His isn't as bad as Kurt, he's always got those gloves on anyway.' She turned to the mirror and studied herself for a moment. She had begun to notice that her ears were slightly pointed now, and her eyes looked different as well. 'Nah, it's just my imagination.'  
  
The students all over the mansion were getting up and the real bathroom wars were beginning. Kitty grinned as she realized she would actually be on time for once and phased through her floor to the breakfast table. Her eyes widened with shock as she realized she had landed on someone's lap. Logan growled slightly and she bolted up.   
  
"What are you doing in my spot?" Kitty was more than a little flustered. Everyone knew to leave her seat open for her in the morning.   
  
"You're early today, Half-Pint." Logan said half laughing and half growling.   
  
Kurt and Bobby had also gone into a fit of laughter at the other end of the table. Logan leaned over and extended a claw, spearing an apple as he did. He looked pointedly at the two boys, who suddenly became fascinated with their coco puffs. With another half laugh half growl Logan stood up and handed Kitty the apple before leaving the students to enjoy the rest of their breakfast.  
  
"You might as well bring zat along for the ride." Kurt said standing up. He flipped the top of his holo-watch up and punched a button. The blue version of Kurt flickered and in his place, the pale skinned, scrawny, Kurt took over. He looked sheepishly over at Kitty, who had decided not to comment for once.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Kurt sped along the road singing at the top of his lungs. The radio in the old Buick Skylark that the professor let him drive was not exactly impressive, but with Kurt's singing it wouldn't have mattered. He could drown out anything or anyone.  
  
"I finished crying in za instant zat you left, and I banished every memory you and I had eveer made!" He leaned in close to Kitty for a more dramatic effect. "But ven you touch me like zis, and ven you kiss me like zat. It vos lost long ago but eets all coming back to me..."  
  
Kitty couldn't contain her laughter anymore. She erupted into a fit of giggles and punched Kurt playfully on the shoulder.   
  
"You big goof ball. If Celine Dion ever heard you sing that, the poor woman would die. Plus, your accent is ten times worse when you sing."  
  
Kurt grinned. "Vaht can I say? I'm an arteest! Is it my fault that my voice is so beautiful she'd keel over in shock? Besides, I'm very proud of my German accent."  
  
Kitty laughed again and turned the radio down. "Look Kurt, um, not to like, change the subject or anything, but I gotta tell you something."  
  
Kurt looked over at Kitty and his face fell. They had managed almost the entire ride not to bring up his inducer and now she was going to ruin it. He raked his fingers through his hair and sighed.  
  
"Keety, I'm not going to ditch..."  
  
"I know." Kitty cut him off, "I just wanted to apologize for, well for being a total pain about it. It's your image Kurt, and you should be the one to decide when you're ready to let it out. I still stand by my feelings about it, but it's like, not my decision to make ya know?"  
  
Kurt smiled so wide he could swear his fangs were showing through the thin hologram that surrounded him. He pulled into a parking slot and turned to face Kitty.  
  
"Thanks Keety. I know you don't veally get it, but..." A bright flash of red caught his eye and Kurt stopped mid sentence. "Isn't zat..."  
  
"Scott's eye blast...thing," Kitty finished for him. She reached for Kurt's arm and he teleported the two of them onto the football field.   
  
The two teens looked around nervously. Scott had a lot of self control with his powers. The fact that he would use them on campus for even an instant mean that he had either been tripped and his glasses had slipped, or big trouble was around.   
  
Another flash of red streaked across the sky, ruling out the accident theory. 'Dangit. Why does this have to happen just when me and Kitty are somewhat normal again. But wait, Kitty and I don't need to be normal again because I have Amanda. So...why am I making a big deal out of this?'   
  
He mentally kicked himself and looked down at Kitty who was half dragging him to where the blasts were coming from already.   
  
"It's the locker rooms," she panted, "Get us over there."  
  
Kurt ported the two of them to the back of the gym. It was an odd picture. The usual chaos that surrounded the mutant teens using their powers was replaced by a chanting crowd of students. A few students were hanging back with nervous looks on their faces, but none of them looked entirely petrified.  
  
"Vaht are zey doing!" Kurt could barely process what he was seeing.  
  
"I like, knew they were getting used to us and all, but like, this isn't some kind of football game!"  
  
A dull roar could be heard from within the locker room, followed by the creaking of metal. The roar grew louder and suddenly three lockers broke through the wall of the gym.   
  
The crowd shifted nervously but still didn't move.   
  
"Clear out!" A voice boomed. "This isn't some cafeteria brawl, now move!"   
  
Scott Summers was emerging through the gapping hole in the wall, sending his optic blasts behind him as he went.  
  
"Aww come on Summers. Let 'em watch! It seems they forgot that they need to fear us!" The enormous form of Fred appeared holding a few lockers up above his head. "You don't think mutants are that scary huh? Well I got news for all you losers." He paused and shifted his weight so that he was holding one of the lockers in his right hand and looked at the rows of students who had gathered to watch. "You should be afraid. You should be very afraid. You shouldn't laugh at us! We could squash you and I'm gonna prove it!" His eyes flickered over the crowd and he grinned.  
  
The crowd was clearly not amused anymore. Many had taken off for the main building. The remaining kids were looking at the mountain towering in front of them with lockers balanced in his arms. Scott took off after Fred, lowering his glasses as he went.  
  
"Get them out of here!" he ordered Kitty and Kurt, waving a hand toward the crowd of students.  
  
"You idiots! Don't you realize what kind of power you could have over these poor saps who got the bad end of the gene pool?" Fred flung one of the lockers directly at Kurt and Kitty.  
  
The blur of events that followed seemed to only happen to Kurt and Kitty as everything went into slow motion. Kurt reached over to teleport kitty away from the flying chunk of metal just as Kitty phased herself out. She went straight through his wrist. Their eyes met for one fleeting moment, both filled with shock. The locker went sailing through Kitty and pounded Kurt square in the chest. The metal box and the teen mutant flew across the grass and landed in a mangled heap on the concrete path.   
  
Kitty went completely numb. 'Tell me that didn't happen. Please tell me that didn't happen.' She stood rooted to the ground, her feet refusing to move. She vaguely heard Scott screaming at her to go see if he was ok; vaguely heard Jean show up and freeze Fred's flying lockers psychically; vaguely heard Bobby show up and encase the Blob in ice. The scene was in replay mode in her head. 'I imagined it. I imagined it!" Her feet began to move again. The numbness became a cold chill as she reached the pile of metal.   
  
The crowd of teens now looked horrified rather than entertained. They were forming a large circle around where Kurt had landed. Kitty phased herself through the crowd of gawking teenagers to the center and began flinging sheets of metal off of the ground, not caring if anyone was in their path. A hand appeared from beneath the mass. Kitty looked at the hand and clenched her eyes shut. 'It did happen.'   
  
Three blue, fur covered, fingers clenched into a fist. The plain black wristwatch that was attached to the fur was sparking like a firecracker. Kitty forced her eyes open again and continued clearing away the debris.   
  
A slender blue tail emerged and wrapped itself around Kitty's wrist. She froze and tried to will it away from her. 'My fault, my fault, my fault!' Her head screamed at her.   
  
The other mutants were helping her now. ~He's ok Kitty. He's moving, he's breathing.~   
  
Kitty looked over at Jean and tried to hide her terror. She slowly raised her hand where Kurt's tail was still wrapped. Jean's eyes widened.  
  
Kurt sat up and winced. He could tell something, maybe a lot of somethings, was broken. He looked around and surveyed the group of mutant teens staring at him.   
  
Scott cursed under his breath and looked away. Kurt glanced around, confused. His head was throbbing and he felt the sudden urge to pass out or vomit, whichever would make the throbbing stop. Kitty was at his side, asking him if he could stand. He clenched his eyes shut. 'Please just stop the screaming. Why is there so much screaming?' A mental image of what had just happened flashed through his mind. 'No. No. NO!' He slowly opened his eyes. With a painful turn of his head he looked at his hand. The screaming was becoming clearer to him. Even through the pounding in his head he could make out the phrases.  
  
"What the heck is that?"  
  
"It's so...creepy."  
  
"Is that Kurt? That's sick!"  
  
"It's like an animal or something."  
  
"Come on let's get out of here, what if he like, tries to bite us or something!"  
  
"Man, I thought the other mutant kids were freaks but this is too much!"  
  
"Are they all like that?"  
  
"Holy crap!"  
  
"Doesn't he have a girlfriend? Man, wait till she hears about this! Poor thing will be scarred for life knowing she's kissed that!"  
  
"Wasn't that the German kid from third period?"  
  
"Send it back to hell!"  
  
"BACK OFF!" Scott thundered. He stood up and stared at the kids who hadn't run away in terror yet. He adjusted his glasses and let them see the sparks of energy threatening to escape their red prison.  
  
The screaming and insulting died down for a minute. A few girls whimpered as they tugged at their boyfriends arms, never taking their eyes off of Kurt, as though he would attack them at any given moment.  
  
Scott knelt down next to Kurt again. "Kurt? Kurt can you hear me?"  
  
The blue German swung his eyes over to Scott. His head swirled and he clenched the yellow slits closed again. He ran his tongue over his lips and the distinct taste of blood filled his mouth. Deciding speaking might take too much effort he gave Scott a slight nod.  
  
"Ok listen. We are gonna call an ambulance alright? If you can stand up Bobby and I will get you up to the main office to wait."  
  
Kurt opened his right eye. His left had begun to swell. "No vay." He swallowed, but his words were slurred and the effort they took sent another shock of pain through his head. He looked pleadingly at Jean. She closed her eyes briefly and nodded slowly.   
  
"Scott let's just get him back to the mansion," she whispered, "An ambulance is a bad idea. You and Bobby can help him to the mansion. Kitty and I will let the professor know what happened."  
  
"Umm, if I go I can take you to a shortcut. There's a wall in the way, but like, I can just take you through it." Kitty made her request in a voice so soft that Scott and Jean had barely heard her.   
  
Scott looked at Kitty for a minute then nodded. "Can you stand Kurt?" He gently lifted Kurt's arm over his shoulder. Kurt winced but didn't resist. He let Scott lift him off the ground and gingerly put some weight on his own legs. His right leg shook slightly but it held him. His left however gave away and he nearly ended up back on the ground.  
  
Kitty grabbed Kurt's other arm in an attempt to steady him. He took a sharp breath and shot a pained look at Kitty.  
  
Mortified, she moved her arm to his waist so that his injured arm could drape over her shoulders. She tried to ignore the warm sticky fluid she felt along Kurt's back. She hoped he wasn't cut too deeply; the blood matted to his fur always made bleeding seem more dramatic with Kurt.  
  
Jean cleared her throat. "We'll let the professor know your on the way; and Kurt, I'll let Amanda know what happened. No doubt she'll be scared to death once..." her voice wavered, "Once rumors start to circulate."  
  
Jean gave a half hearted smile to the blue elf. She knew he would be ok physically. He had taken harder hits than this and come out just fine, but the voices of terror that had been around them still echoed in her mind. She wished the brotherhood idiots were still here. She'd never let them forget this, ever. Even if they were on somewhat peaceful terms with most of them for the moment, this was enough to change the small grudge between them into a brick wall.   
  
Scott shifted so that the brunt of Kurt's weight was on him instead of Kitty, and began to make the agonizingly slow walk home. 


	3. 3

Um, this is pretty short and nothing too exciting happens. Kinda a followup of where everyone is at after Kurt gets home.  
  
Right, I've decided I'm not a Kurty fan even though I wrote one. (Because I just make so much sense like that lol) They are just so much more fun as goofy friends..but anyway. This is basically just an experiment of my own crazyness, like I said, I've never written a fanfic.   
  
I'm also very sorry to any Kurt fans (I love Kurt, he's my favorite) that feel like I've made him into a big emotional wuss. That's not my intent, but it may have come across that way. And I'm majorly sorry about his accent...ever tried to write a German accent when you've never even heard a word of German and the only reference you have to how the accent would be is a cartoon and other people's writing? The German I used in this thing may be inaccurate as well. I used one of those free on line translator things and they're usually too literal. Since I doubt there is an abundant number of you that speak fluent German, I don't think it's a big deal.   
  
Another thing, I took Kitty and Fred way out of character...so sue me lol. I'll work on that in later fics. (I triiied with Kitty, really, I did! I just failed...*sighs*)   
  
Also, all you Evan haters out there...I like Evan hehe. Yes, I basically had to make up his character because he doesn't really have one, but then again, how many cartoon characters have amazing depth anyway? (Yeah, yeah, I know...some characters do, but you get my point)  
  
Not that anyone really cares, but I just don't like Amanda. I don't know why, I just don't. It's kinda the same way I'm not huge Jean fan either...they don't have any kind of flaw! They are just perfect people or something which is just dumb. Ok, I'm done being stupid for now....  
  
PLEASE R/R : )  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Chapter 3  
  
All Kurt wanted to do was sleep. Everything ached. His left ankle was broken and wrapped in a cast. Mr. McCoy was now working on getting Kurt's shoulder back in place. It wasn't broken, but it had been twisted and jerked around a fair deal so it was pretty much useless.   
  
"This isn't going to feel good Kurt. Take a deep breath," Hank warned.  
  
Kurt winced. Unfortunately, taking a deep breath was nearly as painful as having his shoulder popped back into its socket.   
  
Kurt let out a small wail as Hank made the final adjustments to his arm. Trying hard not to whimper, Kurt allowed his arm to be placed in a sling. He glanced down at his chest with his one good eye and groaned. Hank had needed to shave a good portion of his chest to dig out some pieces of shrapnel. A large black bruise had formed where the locker had hit him as well. His back had to be partially shaved too. Hank hadn't been able to tell how deep the cuts were. They ended up just being minor though. Kurt glared at the small pile of blue fuzz that had been left on the floor.   
  
"Alright Kurt, that should do it. I know you probably don't feel like it, but you'll live," Hank looked at him sadly, "Sorry I had to do all that at once, but you can't exactly do these things in intervals."  
  
Kurt nodded slightly and carefully sank back into the mattress, wincing as he did.  
  
The professor wheeled over to him and gave him a slight smile. "Get some rest Kurt. No doubt you'll need to talk about all this later on. I'll get what I can from the other students for now," He paused and gazed at the look of indifference on Kurt's face. "Kurt, I know this was hard for you, but we are here to help you through it..." Charles decided to end his speech there for now as he noticed Kurt's glare. He nodded at Hank who turned out the lights and exited the small enclosure.   
  
Charles turned to go but out of the corner of his eye he saw Kurt flick his tail across the bedside table. A small object came flying off the table and skidded to a halt in front of the professor. He closed his eyes and dropped his head slightly. Kurt's image inducer sat harmlessly on the ground before him.   
  
~Kurt, you can not be too angry for people fearing what they do not understand. It by no means excuses their behavior, but we must make them understand. It's just going to take time.~  
  
The professor waited for a few moments, hoping for a response, but received none. He sighed mentally and left Kurt to get some sleep.  
  
~*~  
  
Kitty sat on the couch with her knees tucked up under her chin. Scott had the TV on but neither one of them was paying much attention to it. Scott looked over at Kitty's tear streaked face.   
  
"Kitty, he's gonna be fine. You know Kurt. He'll bounce right back." Scott gave her a half hearted smile.  
  
Kitty sniffed and focused on Scott's glasses. "It's not that. It's...Scott this is like, all my fault! People are terrified of him Scott, and it's my fault!"  
  
Scott looked at her in surprise. "What? How is this your fault? He could have teleported himself, everything happened so fast he probably didn't have time to think about wether you were gonna phase out or not. It's Fred's fault. I'd like to show him exactly what smashing up that inducer cost Kurt." Scott was glaring from behind his glasses. He idly cracked a few knuckles and looked back at Kitty.  
  
"The locker didn't break the inducer." Her voice was so quiet that Scott had to bend closer to hear her. "Didn't you notice that it was almost completely intact? I did it Scott. Kurt reached over to teleport me and I phased right through his wrist, through the watch," her voice caught and she put her head on her knees and tried to hold back her sobs. "I, I ruined his life! This is so ironic! I'm the one who begs for him to ditch the stupid thing and when it's finally gone I'm the one wishing it had never happened! Did you hear them Scott? Did you hear what they called him?" This time she failed to hold back her sobs. He whole body shook as she hugged her knees tighter against her small frame.  
  
Scott sat there awkwardly for a minute. He was never sure what to do with a crying female. He shifted his position and clumsily put his arm around her. She reached up to him and cried into his shoulder. Scott just sat there dumbfounded, lightly stroking her back. He really wasn't good at the big brother stuff yet. He was learning, being in charge and all, but this wasn't exactly the same as protecting his friends from lasers and explosives.  
  
The professor rolled in a few minutes later. Kitty had calmed down some, but was still crying softly.   
  
"Kitty? Kitty it's alright, he's fine," the professor said a little confused.  
  
Kitty looked up at him and a look of understanding came over his face. Kitty loved how he could do that. He had told them all that he could skim the surface of their thoughts just to know how they were feeling and why, but he would never trespass any deeper without their permission or if it was a matter of life or death. Jean still couldn't control her powers to that extent, yet. When she read their minds, she often went deeper than she intended, and gotten more information than she'd bargained for.  
  
"Kitty," he said gently, "The truth about Kurt had to come out eventually. I'm sure he doesn't blame you. You would never do that on purpose."  
  
Kitty lifted her tear stained face off of Scott's shoulder. She wanted to believe the professor, but she just couldn't. Not until Kurt himself assured her. She gave Scott a weak smile and looked at the professor.   
  
"You can't see him yet." the professor answered for them, "He needs to rest, but I'll let you know the instant you can."  
  
A knock on the front door interrupted them and the three of them headed for the foyer. It was rather unusual for someone to stop by in the middle of the day like this. Scott swung the huge doors open and let out a gasp.  
  
"How dare you show your faces here!" he grabbed for the nearest body, which happened to be Lance. Scott clenched his eyes shut and pulled his shades off. He yanked Lance directly in front of him and got inches away from his face.  
  
"Woah, calm down yo!" Todd shouted, fear creeping its way into his voice.  
  
"Scott, let him go," the professor demanded.   
  
Scott stood there a minute, wanting nothing more than to blast a hole through Lance's head, but he shoved him away and put his glasses back on.  
  
Kitty was shaking with anger behind the professor's chair. "What do you want." she spat, "where is your other team mate?"   
  
Fred was notably missing from the scraggly group of boys that had gathered in front of the mansion.   
  
Pietro narrowed his eyes. "Teammate?Idon'tthinkso."  
  
"Look, yo," Todd started, "We came to let you know we didn't have anything to do with Fred's idiocy this morning, ok?"  
  
"We may not like you guys, but we aren't the bad guys either. Fur face is one of us wether we like it or not, and, well..." Lance looked at Pietro.  
  
"Alright,see,Fred'sgone...  
  
"Pietro!" The professor interrupted, "Normal speed if you please."  
  
Pietro sighed and took a deep breath. "Fred is gone. He left with Mystique, the dumb a...uhhh...idiot. He isn't one of us anymore." Pietro looked at the professor. "We don't do this apologizing thing, so don't think that we are going soft or anything. We just want you to know that Blob is a jerk and we didn't have anything to do with it? Kapeesh?"  
  
The professor, Kitty, and Scott, looked at Pietro as though he were the strangest thing they had ever seen. He rolled his eyes. "Just tell fuzz face we didn't have anything to do with it ok?" He turned and started to walk away. The other boys followed.  
  
"Lance?"   
  
The rock tumbler turned and looked at Kitty.  
  
"How...How bad is it at school?" she asked timidly.  
  
Lance looked at the ground. "Pretty bad."  
  
Kitty nodded and turned to go back inside.   
  
The professor thought of saying something but then decided he'd better not. The boys had an odd look to them, like they had been through way too much in the last couple of days. He made a mental note to check into them later, but they had more pressing matters to deal with for the moment.  
  
  
  
~*~  
  
Kurt stared at the ceiling. He was so tired, but his body ached too bad for him to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. He brushed fiercely at the tear threatening to stain his cheek. He hated crying. It made him feel completely stupid and he especially didn't want any of the kids at the mansion to see him blubbering like some girly girl. He choked the tears back and narrowed his eyes. He had given the professor the impression that he was angry but it just wasn't true. It was just easier to act that way then go all sappy and teary eyed.   
  
It hurt. That was all he could really come up with about the whole thing. He tried to tell himself that they were just words; that they were fools who didn't understand what he was, but it was useless. They stung him and tortured his already throbbing head. He could hear them screaming.  
  
"What is it?"   
  
"It's gross!"  
  
"Get away from it!"  
  
Kurt clenched his eyes closed and curled into a small ball, ignoring the agonized protests of his bones and muscles. He clamped his good hand over one ear and pressed his other into the pillow. 'Stop it! Please! Stop it!' Tears crept past his clenched eyelids. 'I just want to sleep. Please, let me sleep.'  
  
Kurt wasn't aware of Hank's presence in his small enclosure until the small needle pierced his skin. He suddenly felt intensely groggy and finally, sleep came to him.  
  
Dr. McCoy shook his head. 'Perhaps our young friend won't be bouncing back as soon as we hoped.'  
  
  
  
AN: I am really kicking myself for that whole Brotherhood scene but I'm just not gonna bother to change it. I kinda have an idea for a fic about them and it would kinda sorta connect but that's a moot point because this isn't that fic now is it? They probably won't be back...Uhg...*kicks herself*.......stupid stupid stupid stupid.... 


	4. 4

This probably shoulda been part of the last chapter cuz it's super short... o well. I promise something actually happens in chapter 5 (I have it written I just need to get it up)  
  
Thanks to my reviewers...I like reviews : ) yay to you!   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The next few days were agonizing for the students at the mansion. The professor refused to let them see Kurt and it made them all really nervous.  
  
"Well if he's fine the why can't we see him?" Scott demanded for the umpteenth time at dinner one evening. The agitation in his voice was not well hidden.  
  
The professor raised an eyebrow. He looked at the many pairs of eyes waiting for his response. Sighing he motioned for Scott to take his seat.   
  
The professor liked for everyone to be present for dinner all at the same time at least once a week. It made the enormous mansion feel less so, and gave the inhabitants a family feel.  
  
"So...?" asked Evan.  
  
The professor waited for everyone at the table to settle down. "Listen. I know you're all worried about Kurt, we all are..."  
  
"Oh for goodness sakes professor would you just tell us already?"  
  
Everyone gave Jean a surprised look and waited for the professor to continue.   
  
"Look, Kurt is physically ok. He's got a broken ankle, abrasions, a sore shoulder, and a busted eye. However, the emotional shock he endured was substantial. Dr. McCoy has had to give him sedatives to help him sleep. I personally think that Kurt is worried he might break down in front of one of you. He's trying to put up this 'mad at the world' front, but it's not easy to fool a telepath. When he is ready I'm sure he will ask to see you."  
  
"Or I'll just sneak out of za infirmary."   
  
Every head at the table turned to look at a somewhat smiling Kurt. He stood at the doorway and looked at everyone. He hadn't heard the professor's entire speech and he wasn't sure he wanted to. He limped to a seat and winced as he sat down.  
  
"So, vere's my food? Za Fuzzy Dude is hungry!"  
  
Everyone laughed and began to bombard him with questions.  
  
Kurt smiled happily. He was so sick of the white walled infirmary and he was in a particularly good mood at the moment. He knew it wouldn't last, but he had to make the most of it. The professor was looking at him funny but he chose to ignore him.   
  
"So Kurt, are you coming back to school soon?" Amara asked.  
  
"Ja, I guess I have too. Maybe it von't be too bad. You all had to go sruogh it, so I guess I need to take my turn. So, maybe I'll go back tomorrow, Ja?" Kurt tried to force himself to believe what he had just said. The back of his mind had other ideas though. He knew it would be different for him then it was for the others. He didn't want them to think he was some kind of wimp though.  
  
"I guess he came around after all," Scott whispered to the professor.   
  
"Indeed," was his response.  
  
Scott caught the sarcasm in the elder man's voice, but shrugged it off. Kurt just wasn't a depressed type of guy, and the kids at school would adjust soon enough.   
  
"So, has Amanda come by?" Kurt asked tentatively. He was afraid to ask, but he needed to know. It was like some sort of test of her in his mind.   
  
"Only all the time! Man Kurt, I could have sworn she was gonna set up camp outside the infirmary window. She came before school to see if you would be coming, and after school she stayed until dinner. You just missed her actually," Jean said laughing.  
  
Kurt smiled. Part of him was happy to hear that, the other part, well he just wasn't sure. 'Come on you big idiot, that's what you wanted to hear wasn't it?'  
  
"So, you moving back in tonight? I've been late everyday without you to wake me up!" Evan grinned and waited for Kurt to answer.  
  
Kurt flicked his tail nervously. He could handle the day alright, but nights weren't good. The screaming kept coming back into his nightmares. The only reason he had slept at all in the last few nights was because Hank had come into his room and injected him with something every time he woke up screaming. He couldn't think of an excuse not to move back in his room though, so he just nodded at Evan and forced a smile.   
  
The professor raised an eyebrow and made a mental note to speak with Evan after dinner was over. Kurt was totally confusing him. He could just slip into his thoughts for a second, but Kurt would never let him and he didn't want to violate the already emotionally troubled teen. He could tell the blue elf still felt terrified, but there was nothing he could do about his decision to return to school or to his room.  
  
"Uh, Kurt? Like, um, I'm sorry," Kitty spoke for the first time since Kurt had entered. He looked at her in surprise.   
  
"Um, for vaht?" Then it dawned on him. He had almost forgotten that it was Kitty who had destroyed his inducer. She was trembling slightly and wasn't meeting his eyes. "Oh, Keety, eet's ok. I know you didn't mean too. It vas just an accident."  
  
She timidly met his eyes and gave him a weak smile. "Are you going to wear it to school tomorrow?"  
  
Kurt nodded. There was no way he was walking onto that campus without it. Even if everyone knew what he looked like, he wasn't about to remind them, or satisfy the curiosity of those who hadn't been at the gym when it happened.   
  
"Vell if you people don't mind, I'm starved, so let me eat somesing vill you?"  
  
  
  
~*~  
  
Evan opened one eyelid and pulled the blanket up over his head. He had awoken to the sound of Kurt thrashing around in his sheets, trying to get comfortable he was assuming. He wasn't truly a heavy sleeper, but he always seemed to be asleep anyway. Kurt had no idea how much his endless tossing woke him up at night. He didn't mind so much though. If he faked being asleep, it was almost as good as actually sleeping... almost.   
  
Kurt tossed again and Evan's eyes popped open. He pulled his blankets off and swung his legs over the bed. The conversation he had with the professor replaying in his head.  
  
"Kurt really hasn't been having good nights. It'll be better for you to wake him if you notice that he's...dreaming or something." he had said. Evan had merely given him a knowing nod and a smile.  
  
Evan walked over to Kurt's bed and listened. He didn't want to tap him on the shoulder if Kurt was already awake, then he would just look stupid.   
  
Kurt was mumbling in German. Evan didn't have a clue what he was saying but it didn't sound like he was very happy.  
  
"Bitte hören auf zu schreien. Ich bin kein Tier! Bitte!" (AN: Please, stop screaming! I'm not an animal! Please!)  
  
Evan squinted into the darkness and barely made out Kurt's form beneath his thin sheets. He almost never used a blanket. His fur was warm enough but nevertheless he was shivering like crazy, curled up in a tiny ball with his hands clamped over his pointed ears. Evan shook his shoulder slightly and Kurt tucked himself into an even tighter ball.   
  
"Nien!" (AN: No!)  
  
His voice was a shrill scream and Evan shook him harder. "Kurt, Kurt! Come on man wake up! You're just dreaming."  
  
Kurt bolted up, eyes darting all across the room. He was panting and he thought his heart was gonna break out of his chest any second. His eyes finally settled on Evan and he felt his ears grow hot. For the first time in his life he was thankful that he had blue fur, if nothing else, it covered up his blushing. He was sweating and he knew he must look awful.   
  
"Hey man, you need a bucket or something? You look like your gonna hurl," Evan asked.  
  
Kurt glanced at the mirror. He looked really pale. Well, lighter blue anyway. He shook his head and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He was still shaking.  
  
Evan noticed how embarrassed Kurt was and ran a hand over his blonde hair. "Hey man, I, I know what they're like, those nightmares."  
  
Kurt looked up at Evan with a curious look on his face.  
  
"Ya know when I came back from the tunnels? Well, let's just say I wasn't really...stable. I was here weeks before anyone but the adults knew I was back. They'd get so bad, the nightmares, that I'd practically make myself sick," he looked at the dazed expression on Kurt's face and laughed. "Yeah, I know, real macho. You know what helps though? Warm milk." He grinned and Kurt's ears perked up a bit.  
  
"Um, Evan? You vouldn't...tell..."  
  
"'Course not man. Like I said, I know what they're like, and everything that comes with 'em."  
  
Kurt let out a small sigh of relief and gave Evan a grateful smile before the two of them headed to the kitchen.  
  
  
  
AN: Ok, again, I'm not trying to make Kurt seem like a total wuss. But the poor guys been through a lot, and it's gonna be worse for the fuzzy one next chapter. : ( I even feel bad for him and I'm the one who wrote it! Ok, Enough rambling, I'm gonna work on getting chapter 5 up now... 


	5. 5

*Sniffle*...this chapter gets to me. I'M SORRY KURT!!! REALLY!! Ok, right...*ahem*  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Kurt stared at the car door handle and swallowed. Scott had driven him since his ankle would have been a problem to drive with. He picked up his crutches and Scott held the door open for him. He was dreading this. He made his way up to the school with Scott and Evan flanking his left and Jean and Kitty his right.  
  
There was a lot of whispering. He could handle that. He had expected as much. It had been like that for the others. If that was as bad as it was going to get he would kick himself though. He could have gone through it with all the others at the same time.   
  
A few girls yelped a little as he passed. He could handle that too. It wasn't like they knew him or anything.   
  
It seemed eerily quiet as the student's eyes followed Kurt up the pathway to the school. He brushed it off. 'They'll get over it. They did with the others. Just keep telling yourself that Kurt, keeeep telling yourself that.'  
  
"KURT! Oh my gosh Kurt you're here! The one morning I didn't go to the institute before school and you're HERE!" Amanda's voice filled the hallway as she ran toward Kurt. Dropping her books she put her hands on his shoulders and inspected him. "Oh my gosh your ankle! And your shoulder! And your eye! Oh you poor thing!" She wrapped her arms around him and clung to him.   
  
Kurt tried his best to hide his wince as she gripped his scraped up back. Evan raised his eyebrows, looked at the others and shrugged. "Hey man, we're gonna go to class. We'll be around if you, ya know, need us for anything."  
  
The four mutants walked away slowly, casting odd glances at the over excited Amanda. They didn't go far though. Scott intended to follow Kurt to his first class. The others had worked out a system so that the blue elf wouldn't be in a hallway with out him between most of his classes.   
  
"How are you? I was so worried." Amanda pulled away from Kurt. He was about to answer her when she suddenly dove in for a kiss.   
  
Slightly annoyed, Kurt casually guided her away from his threatening fangs. He mentally rolled his eyes. 'I wonder if this is better than Rogue's position. At least if she could kiss she'd be able to enjoy it! Besides, does Amanda even care what my answer is? I'm not ok, and I really need you to listen to me for once not just act like you are all concerned and then not bother to hear my side of the story! I want Kitty, I want Rogue, I want ANYBODY who will just let me talk to them about how scared I am!'   
  
He broke the kiss gently and looked down at Amanda. She smiled and he smiled back. He couldn't help it. 'I'm tired, and I'm really not thinking straight right now. That's all, yeah, that's it.'  
  
~*~  
  
The morning wasn't terribly bad. The worst of it had been during second period. The teacher was late and it gave a few of the braver bullies a chance to act.   
  
"I hear you've got a tail, freak. Let's see it."  
  
Kurt ignored him and headed toward his seat.  
  
"Oh no you don't." The jerk lunged for Kurt and nearly knocked him on the ground. Kurt steadied himself with his crutches and automatically unwrapped his tail from around his waist for more balance.   
  
The class let out a small gasp. Kurt wanted to punch himself. 'Idiot.'  
  
The boy roared with laughter. He grabbed at Kurt's tail and gave it a slight tug. This time Kurt did loose his balance. He silently thanked God for his circus training and spun out of the jerk's grasp, landing with his weight on his good arm.  
  
Evan, who was in the class with Kurt, stood up abruptly. His spikes made their way through his clothes and he glared at the kid who was now on the ground from the force of Kurt's spin.   
  
The teacher walked in then, and everyone went silent. Kurt wrapped his tail back around his waist and helped himself up. He sat down and stared straight ahead, ignoring the eyes that were on him.   
  
The teacher looked nervously at Evan.   
  
"Um, Mr. Daniels?"  
  
Evan winced as he strenuously retracted his spikes. He sat down and cast a glance at Kurt, who was sitting quietly at his desk.  
  
The guy behind Kurt poked at his bad shoulder with his pencil as soon as the teacher started writing on the board. Kurt smiled a little despite the sharp pain and turned around. He and the guy were friends; his name was Josh.   
  
"Hey, man, how ya been?" Kurt whispered.  
  
Josh narrowed his eyes and looked straight past Kurt. Kurt turned around, his smile fading. The pencil jabbed him in the back again, harder this time. Kurt clenched his teeth. Josh leaned forward and got really close to Kurt's ear.  
  
"Fuuuur-reak," he hissed.  
  
Kurt closed his eyes as the pencil was jabbed into his shoulder again.  
  
~*~  
  
Kurt drug himself to lunch, his spirits at an all time low. He sat down and put his head on the table.   
  
"You ok, Kurt?" Jean asked.   
  
"Hmm? Ja, I'm ok," Kurt plastered on a fake smile, "Jest tired I guess. It hasn't been zat bad."  
  
Jean looked at him skeptically. "Mmhmm."  
  
"Shoot, I'll be vight back. I left somesing in my locker."  
  
"Do you believe that he's just tired?" Jean said to Scott as soon as Kurt was out of earshot.  
  
"Not a chance." Scott answered.  
  
Kurt headed slowly toward the hallway his locker was in. He really wasn't in any hurry. His ears pricked up and he could have sworn he heard a muffled squeal...  
  
...................................  
  
Amanda struggled against Duncan's overbearing strength. He had her up against a locker and was laughing along with his buddies.  
  
"Aww, what's wrong? Your mutant freak boyfriend isn't here to save you? What a shame."   
  
"Let her have it Duncan!"  
  
"Yeah, we don't need our race tainted by his kind. You may wanna remind her that!"  
  
"Hmm, seems I need to give you some education doesn't it?" Duncan said smirking. "So liste...OW! Hey! You little mutant loving slut!"  
  
Amanda had bit Duncan's hand and elbowed him hard in the ribs. He loosened his grip just long enough for her to break free of his grasp and she started to run.   
  
Duncan grabbed her by the hair and pulled her down to the floor. He raised a hand to smack the defenseless girl, muffling her squeal of protest with his free hand.....  
  
..............  
  
"Get off of her!" Kurt's voice boomed throughout the hall way. His blood burned and he clenched his fists.   
  
"And if I don't?" Duncan smirked again, but let Amanda go anyway. She scrambled to her feet and backed away from the group of jocks now focusing on Kurt. They herded around him and forced him to back out of the hallway and into the school yard.   
  
"So how do you hide it?" Duncan scanned Kurt and rested his eyes on the watch. "Hmm..."  
  
Kurt tried to get out of the way, but with his broken ankle, it was useless even trying. Duncan swiped the image inducer off of Kurt's wrist. The fur covered Kurt lowered his head.   
  
"Hey!" one of the jocks shouted to a few people who were eating their lunch outside. "Come check out the freak show!"  
  
"No one wants your kind here," Duncan whispered harshly into Kurt's ear, "Especially not the ones that look like you."  
  
"Leave him alone!" Amanda's voice was panicked, but she kept her distance from the group of goons.  
  
Kurt wanted more than anything to just port out of there, but he probably would have passed out if he even tried. He was still too weak to be porting.  
  
A rather large crowd was growing around the jocks. Duncan grinned and grabbed Kurt by the back of his neck. Kurt gagged as Duncan and his fellow football idiots hoisted him off the ground by his fur.   
  
"So who wants a piece of the freak!?"  
  
Many of the teens in the crowd cheered. Duncan stood back and the remaining jocks yanked Kurt's arms behind him. One clutched Kurt's hair into his fist and forced Kurt's head back.  
  
Kurt was getting frantic. He couldn't move. Some other kid from the crowd had grabbed his tail and with the help of a jock, pinned it down. His broken ankle was useless and his other was being held by yet another student.   
  
Duncan pulled his arm back and punched Kurt in the stomach. Kurt had never felt anything like it. The jocks dropped him and he landed on his hands and knees, retching. He felt a kick to his ribs and someone else jerked his tail. The crowd was closing in. The screaming was all he could hear as he felt his body welt up and bruise as punch after punch, kick after kick, was aimed at his already weak body. He felt the blood pounding in his head and forcing its way out through his mouth. The ground spun from under him and he clenched his eyes shut in an attempt to stop the swirling scenery. He tried to get away, but some kid grabbed his tail and held him down. He felt chunks of his fur being ripped from his back as his shirt was torn down his spine. He curled into a tight ball, trying to block out the screaming.  
  
"GIT THE HELL AWAY FROM MAH BROTHER!"  
  
'Rogue?'  
  
Someone screamed and the crowd was beginning to widen the circle around Kurt. Rogue stood over him, her left glove missing.   
  
"Ya know what happens when ah touch someone? Ah suck their life force! Now if any of ya'll eva try and touch mah brother again you can say hello ta a hospital bed and a comma for the rest of your teenage life!"  
  
"She's full of it," Duncan sneered.   
  
"Care ta test that theory, sugah?" She stretched her bare hand out dangerously close to Duncan's face. "Or maybe you'd rather ask your friend over there." She gestured to her side where one of the jocks lay motionless on the ground.   
  
The other X-men had shown up and were forming a protective circle around Kurt. They didn't bother to hide their talents either. Evan had rows of spikes all along his shoulders, his breathing ragged as he struggled not to release them. Jean was levitating books, bags, and rocks around her; threatening to knock anyone out with them if they came one step closer. Bobby had iced his fists and was sending death stares at anyone who looked as though they might continue the fight. Even Lance joined the circle, causing the ground to tremble slightly.   
  
"Aw come on Jean, you know you don't belong with these losers," Duncan still hadn't lost his nerve and was advancing toward the group of mutants. The rest of the crowd however was not following suit.   
  
Jean dropped what she was levitating and walked over to Duncan. Smiling, he put his arm out to her. Jean gave him a sickeningly sweet smile and punched him.   
  
Stunned, Duncan staggered back and Jean hit him again. She leaned close to the now doubled over Duncan.   
  
"Don't you ever *Stomp* come near me, or any. *Punch* of my. *Kick* friends. *Slap* again." She grabbed him by the shoulders and brought her knee up to his groin in one swift motion. Duncan inhaled sharply and he doubled over even further. He stared at Jean in shock.   
  
Scott and Evan were already headed to the parking lot with Kurt held between the two of them. The rest of the team trailed behind them, hard, cold, glares across each ones' face.  
  
"Move." Scott's low voice sounded more like a growl than a command. The crowd parted without a sound and the line of mutants walked through.   
  
Scott and Evan set Kurt gently in the back seat of the convertible and got into the front seats. Kitty and Rogue sat either side of the trembling Kurt as Jean led the other students to her S.U.V. a few spaces down.  
  
Lance, now joined be the other brotherhood members watched as the two vehicles sped out of the parking lot. Todd looked at the crowd of teens trying to get away from the hoard of teachers trying to figure out what had happened.  
  
"Should we call the police or something, yo?"  
  
"No. We're going home. This place is making me sick."  
  
~*~  
  
  
  
Kurt couldn't control himself anymore. He curled into a tight ball and sobbed into his arms. His entire body shook as he coughed and gagged through his tears. He didn't care that Scott kept glancing at him nervously in the rearview mirror; that Evan could hear every gut wrenching sob, or that Kitty and Rogue were both had silent tears running down their faces. He couldn't think, couldn't formulate a single syllable in his head. So he just sobbed; hiding his face in his arms and knees.  
  
He felt Kitty pull him to her and wrap her arms around him; felt Rogue's gloved fingers run through his hair comfortingly. He heard Evan swearing at the dashboard, and heard the engine strain as Scott pressed his foot harder on the accelerator.   
  
But he didn't care. He couldn't care. All he could focus on was the pain, the welts, the bruises, the aches, and worst of all the emotional anguish that was threatening to consume him.   
  
The car slowed and Kurt knew they were at the mansion. The professor was trying to talk to him telepathically; trying to calm him. He couldn't listen though. He felt dizzy and weak and somewhere far away he could make out Kitty's panicked voice.  
  
"He's going to hurt himself! Please Kurt, it's ok. You're safe! Please!"  
  
It was true, he was going to hurt himself. He was practically convulsing now with sobs, but he couldn't stop. He tried to speak, but couldn't. He wrapped his tail around Kitty's wrist, something he subconsciously did for comfort fairly often, but he couldn't stop. His chest hurt and he realized he couldn't breath. He was vaguely aware of being placed on a sofa. Far away, he could hear the kids pleading with him to calm down, to breath.   
  
"GET HANK! NOW!"  
  
He had never heard the professor talk like that.   
  
He gasped as air filled his lungs briefly, then they were closed again, choking tears out rather than letting air in. Moments later he felt a large hand on his arm and his sleeve being rolled up. A felt a dull prick under his fur and tried to get away from it. Everything started to slow down. He felt the air rushing to his lungs again. He opened his eyes for a brief second, taking in the terrified expressions on the faces of his peers. The girls were crying while the guys tried their best to comfort them, even though they too seemed to need some comforting themselves. He wished Bobby and Evan would stop staring.  
  
Logan was trying to get the students out of the room, but they were ignoring him. He could sort of make out the concerned faces of the professor, Hank, and Ororo standing over him but his already tear impaired vision was beginning to blur.   
  
He closed his eyes. He couldn't watch any more. He couldn't think; everything was going so slow. He drifted into an odd sort of sleep, escaping the sobs and panic. 


	6. 6

Ok, last chapter was sad, and this one is maybe a little too...it's definitely not happy. Umm, that's all I really have to say. When I put the next chapter up I'll have lots of notes to all the people who have reviewed...HINT HINT!!!!   
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Kurt stood awkwardly at the top of the stairs. The entire mansion was eating together tonight... in his honor, or something stupid like that. He had been in his room for weeks, too ashamed to see any of the other kids. They would come to his door and talk to him through it, all of them worried about him no doubt. He couldn't face them though, not after he had snapped like that. He would refuse to answer them but they kept talking to him just the same.  
  
They told him that the boy Rogue had touched was recovering and wasn't going to press charges; his parents were too afraid to. Jean told him how Duncan and the goon squad had spent some time in jail and were waiting for a court date, along with many other participants of the brawl. Evan told him that the brotherhood had nearly brought down the entire school the next day, but for some reason they backed out just before Lance took out the science hall. Kitty had come by the most. She let him know that most of the kids didn't want to go back to school, and that the professor had decided to give them a few days off. She would sit by his door and hum Celine Dion songs and Kurt almost let her come in after he realized that the reason she wasn't talking was because she was trying not to cry. But he hadn't. Amanda came by a few times as well, telling him how sorry she was, and how the kids at school had stopped bullying her once they realized that all the mutants at the school were on her side.   
  
The adults were the only ones he would let in to see him. Ororo brought him meals, and Hank came for regular once overs of his wounds. Logan and the professor would just come up and talk to him and try to get him out of his comatose like state.   
  
He had made it past the 'out-of-it' point one day when the professor had finally gotten fed up with him. It was the first time Kurt had ever seen the professor so exasperated. He felt that was probably what did it actually. Something clicked when he realized that not even the professor knew what to do and he realized he had to snap out of it.   
  
His emotional anguish had plenty of time to melt and its place was nothing but anger. Kurt wasn't a bitter person, but he couldn't help this. It was like he had no other option but to be mad. He had decided he was never going back to school. He knew that if he did he would either lose it again, or attack any one who so much as blinked at him funny.   
  
It was Logan that had finally convinced him to come out of his room. Logan wasn't exactly the best at tender moments, but it was his 'straight up' attitude that had made Kurt consider seeing his friends again.  
  
"Look elf, if you don't come down soon your friends are gonna snap too. The half-pint practically makes herself sick worrying about you and I've caught her crying outside your door more than once. Scott's been a complete drill sergeant, worse than normal anyway; snaps at the younger recruits all the time. Not that it's anything new, but his humor is dryer than ever, if you can believe that. Red can barely levitate a spoon, and I think if Evan has to spend one more night in the same room as Bobby and Jamie he's gonna lose his mind."  
  
So here he was, at the top of the staircase, about to face his friends. He hobbled down the stairs slowly with his crutches. He knew he could take the elevator but the longer he could put this off the better.   
  
Everyone's eyes were on him as he entered the dining room. He wanted to bolt out of there as fast as he could. He hated the look of pity on the younger recruits' faces. The older ones smiled at him and gestured for him to take his seat.  
  
It was deftly quiet and any minute now he was going to yell at them. Thankfully, Evan broke the silence first.   
  
"Dude, what happened to your eye?"  
  
Kurt grinned and the table erupted into giggles. His left eye was still a mess; swollen almost completely shut still. It was a dumb comment, but it was all the table needed to loosen up a bit. Kurt gave Evan a grateful look and picked up his fork.   
  
Everything was going fine. His friends just talked to him like he hadn't become a hermit for three weeks. Then things turned for the worse.   
  
"So, uh, do you know when you'll be coming back to school?" Scott asked.  
  
Kurt forced himself to swallow. "I'm not going back," he mumbled into his plate.  
  
Jean gave Scott a nervous glance from across the table. "Uh, Kurt, you have to go to school. You can't just drop out."  
  
"I'll get tutored zen." Kurt said with a shrug. He was getting annoyed. All his anger was making him edgy and the last thing he needed was to get into a fight with the team captain.  
  
Kitty reached across the table and put her hand on Kurt's. "We understand Kurt, it's just that we like, well, think you should give it one more try, ya know?"  
  
That did it. He wished more than anything it hadn't been Kitty, but it was, and he couldn't stop himself. He scowled at her and pulled his hand away.  
  
"You don't understand ANYSING!" The table of chattering teens suddenly went silent. "Za only sing you had to put up wiz was a few whispers and zen zay got over it! No von tried to kill you!"   
  
He was snarling, fangs bared and everything. Kitty sat back further in her chair. She had never been truly afraid of Kurt, but she had never seen him do anything like this before either.  
  
"You sink you are so unfortunate don't you Miz Cazrine?" Kurt closed his eyes and the fur on his neck rose, "You sink zat it vos terrible for you vight? Vell you're vrong!" he was standing now, leaning across the table inches away from Kitty's face. The students could barely understand him as his accent went from bad to worse, and then to half English half German. "I'll bet your glad za whole sing happened! I'll bet you phased srough my inducer on purpose!"   
  
He didn't believe it, but he couldn't stop the words from coming out. 'Stop it! This is Kitty! The girl who makes you forget how to form a sentence every time you see her. Don't do this to her! She was only trying to help!'  
  
He ignored his own thoughts as he continued to verbally tear the poor girl apart. "Vell are you happy? Are you!? Of course not! You're just a stupid valley girl who takes her looks for granted, so of course you don't understand! I'll bet no von ever looked at you za vay zey look at me! Zen you'd understand!"  
  
"Kurt!" Her voice was panicky and Kurt opened his moist eyes. He looked straight into her face and immediately wished he hadn't. Her big blue eyes were wide open and filled with fear. He noticed that his tail had wrapped itself around her slender neck. He pulled away from her and stumbled over his chair.   
  
"Ich bin erbärmlich! Ich bin so erbärmliches Kätzchen! Ich weiß nicht, was ich dachte. Ich bin so erbärmlich." (AN: Apologizing, yadda yadda) Kurt stumbled to his feet and clutched his head. "I'm sorry Keety." He didn't know what to do. All he wanted was to get out; away from all their stares, from their eyes, from Kitty's eyes.   
  
A soft "BAMF" filled the room and everyone gasped.  
  
Kurt landed at the top of the stairway and collapsed. He had hoped to make it to his room, but he didn't have the strength. He just laid there, listening to the professor try to calm the kids downstairs.  
  
'I scared her. I tried to choke her! Why did it have to be Kitty? Why, why, why!?'  
  
He heard footsteps heading out of the dining room and out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of brown ponytail disappear through the large front doors. More footsteps followed and he heard a few of them mount the steps behind him. Kurt just laid there. He couldn't have moved if he wanted to.   
  
Evan stood next to Kurt and exhaled noisily. "You know man, you really blew it down there."  
  
Kurt turned his head and looked at Evan's shoes. "Vell zank you captain obvious. Tell me somesing I don't know."  
  
"Ok, I will." Evan sat down so that Kurt could at least see his face. "Kitty was the only one of us who went back to school after your attack."  
  
Kurt rolled his eyes. "And your point is vaht?"  
  
"I wasn't done. Anyway, she got up and stood on top of a lunch table and declared that Kurt Wagner was her friend and gave about a ten minute long speech on how stupid some people are for treating others the way they do. She looked ridiculous man, but she didn't care. Just kept talking, making people listen to her. Finally some dork asked her why she cared so much, she was beautiful and anyone who made fun of her appearance would be a fool, and would she please shut up. So she looked the kid straight in the face and just stared at him. Know what she told him Kurt? She told him that it was because of people like him that people like her are terrified of setting foot on campus. That even though she wasn't blue and furry, she still knew what it was like to be labeled a freak and be looked down on for no other reason other than being different."  
  
Kurt tried to sit up but failed. Exhausted, he took a moment to catch his breath. "Thanks Evan, you veally know how to make a person feel better." He narrowed his eyes at the blonde and made mo effort to ebb some of the sarcasm out of his voice. "Vaht was za point in telling me all zat? To send me on an even longer guilt trip? Vell danke, Mr. Daniels, I veally appreciate it." Kurt told turned his head to the other direction.   
  
"Look man, I told you that so you'd know that Kitty was serious. She does understand. We all do. We just have to go through it in different ways. We totally get why you were so down and stuff man, but you need to get over it already. You don't get special privileges to act like a jerk just cuz you've got fur. I also told you that so that maybe you'll reevaluate your situation with Amanda."  
  
Kurt turned to look at Evan again and furrowed his brow. "Vaht's she got to do wiz zis?"  
  
Evan shrugged. "I dunno man, just seems like you took the first person that excepted the fuzz. Amanda just doesn't seem right for you somehow, and it isn't exactly a secret that you used to have a thing for Kitty. Besides, as much as that Amanda girl talks, does she even hear you?"  
  
Kurt stared at him, totally lost. His comment had come totally out of left field. He let it soak in slowly.  
  
"Vhy vould I bother with Keety? She's, she's..." Kurt couldn't think of an intelligent thing to say. 'Beautiful, smart, funny, understanding; thooose could be inserted there, but I can't exactly tell him that. Heck, who wouldn't bother with Kitty? An idiot, an insecure fuzzy blue idiot, that's who'  
  
Evan shook his head and shifted nervously. "Never mind dude. Just, lay off of Kitty ok? Maybe talk to her when she gets back."  
  
~*~  
  
Kitty slumped against the trunk of the tall oak. Her mind was buzzing and she was not at all interested in sorting her thoughts out. She knew Kurt wasn't really mad at her, just mad in general and she just happened to be the one to set him off.   
  
But still, it had been like a slap in the face. Even though she knew he didn't mean it, part of her was scared that he was right. She did take her looks for granted. Always whining when her hair didn't flip just right, or that her ears were too pointed.   
  
She blinked back her tears and tried to ignore the twinge of heart ache that was threatening her. She knew Evan had gone to talk to Kurt. Maybe afterward, Kurt would want to say something to her.  
  
'Evan better not tell him a thing. If Kurt knew how I felt about him, he'd like, totally have more problems to deal with.'  
  
She looked up through her tear streaked eyes as she heard the soft crunch of grass beneath someone's feet. Amanda was walking briskly toward the mansion's double doors.  
  
Kitty groaned. 'Speak of the devil...Great, just great. Why does she make him so happy? I just don't get it. She is like, more dense than me! At least I let people talk to me before I try playing tongue hockey.'  
  
She had noticed the look on Kurt's face at school when Amanda had lunged at him and started talking a mile a minute, barely giving Kurt a chance to answer.   
  
Kitty kicked at the grass. 'I like, so don't think he's gonna have the energy to deal with her right now.'  
  
~*~  
  
Kurt was sitting up in his bed, about to try and sleep, when a knock interrupted him.   
  
He knew the professor had probably told all the other kids to leave him alone until morning, otherwise the whole school would have been at the top of the stairs with him and Evan. He was thankful that the professor had let Evan up though. He needed a good kick in the arse and Evan was the perfect person to get it from. Scott would have just made it seem all 'leaderish' and any of the girls wouldn't have made it harsh enough.   
  
Too exhausted to get out of bed, he called for the person to let themself in. His heart sank as Amanda entered.   
  
"Hey sweety, are you ok?"  
  
Her voice was soft, and there was genuine concern in it. For a split second, Kurt thought she might actually wait for a response.  
  
"You look exhausted. Want me to get you something?"  
  
Kurt's split second to answer her ended and he let out a sigh. With that short moment, all his hope for Amanda faded. She was still talking, telling him how sorry she was all this had happened, how terrible he must have felt. She was saying all the right things, but that wasn't what he wanted her to do.  
  
"Amanda." He interrupted her quietly.  
  
"Yes sweety?"  
  
"Amanda, if I broke down vight now, vaht vould you do? Like if I veally just lost it."  
  
Amanda cocked her head to one side and gave Kurt a strange look. "K-Kurt?"  
  
"Or if I told you I veally vasn't ok, and zat I veally needed to talk to someone about it, to jest let it all out, vaht vould you do?"  
  
Amanda just stood there, gaping at him.  
  
"Zat's vaht I zought. Amanda, I can't be vith you anymore. It isn't fair for you, or for me."  
  
"Bu-...Kurt? I don't understand."  
  
"Zat's vhy. You don't understand. Look Amanda, most of za time, I veally am as happy as I act, but zen zere are za times vhere I just can't fake zat carefree attitude, but you don't know about zat part of me, and I don't sink you ever vill."  
  
"I-I can try. If you let me. Kurt, I really like you, a lot. And, well, I'll do whatever it takes to..."  
  
Kurt took in her sad eyes, now filling with tears. He slouched. He hated this. Why did Evan have to be right? Why couldn't Amanda be what he had thought she was.  
  
"Zat's not all zere is to it." His voice got really quiet. "I do have feelings for you Amanda, just not za kind you vant me to have. Zere is- vell, it's complicated."  
  
"It's that Kitty girl, isn't it." Amanda's voice was barely a whisper.   
  
Kurt's eyes widened. "How did you...?"  
  
Amanda shrugged slightly. "I don't know. Just the way you are when she's around I guess. You laugh differently, and you just, I don't know."  
  
Kurt looked sheepishly at the foot of his bed. He didn't want to meet Amanda's tear filled eyes. "I'm sorry."  
  
"It's ok. I know you really wanted to have something with me, us. Just, I'm not really what you thought I was, or wished I was. You didn't want it to end up like this, right?"  
  
"No, I truly didn't. It jest vouldn't be fair."  
  
Amanda nodded and the two teenagers shifted their gazes away from each other in the awkward silence.   
  
"Well, I better go." Amanda said quietly. She walked over to Kurt and put her hand on his shoulder. "Just, when you get through all this, know that I'm still on your side ok? I expect to still hear from you know and then ok?" She laughed a little and kissed Kurt's cheek. "And by the way, your accent gets thicker when your nervous."  
  
Kurt smiled slightly and wrapped his arms around Amanda. "I'll see you around zen?"  
  
Tears streamed down Amanda's face as she nodded. "Ja, see you around."  
  
Unable to postpone her tears, the brunette spun around and nearly ran out of Kurt's room. She ran down the stairs, nearly running into Evan and Bobby as she went. Bursting through the huge doors, she forced herself to a slow jog. Looking up, she saw a disheveled Kitty heading toward the house.  
  
The two girls stopped in front of each other, some reason knowing that their tears were being caused by the same person.  
  
"He's like, a total heartbreaker ain't he?" She said laughing.  
  
Amanda giggled slightly. "What'd he do to you?"  
  
Kitty shrugged. "He just said some stuff. He didn't mean it though. He's got a lot to deal with. He needs to get it out somehow. I'll bet he feels bad though. How bout you?"  
  
"We broke up."  
  
Kitty's eyebrows shot up into her bangs. "I beg your pardon?"  
  
"Yeah, I understand why and all."  
  
"But it still hurts." Kitty finished for her.  
  
The two girls stood in silence again. Amanda shivered as the breeze picked up. "Look Kitty, I think your right about him needing to get this stuff out. Maybe not tonight, but sometime, maybe you should go and you know, listen to him a bit."  
  
Kitty nodded.   
  
"He really cares about you ya know," Amanda said quietly.  
  
Kitty looked at the ground, "yeah, I know."  
  
Amanda sighed, "Well, I've gotta get home. Bye Kitty."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Yay! Amanda is gone! LoL. I feel kinda bad but she just bugs me. I may not be a huge Kurty fan but it's growing on me...and anything is better than Amanda hehe. Please R/R...I greatly appreciate when people do that. 


	7. 7

Ok, this is the SECOND TO LAST chapter. I had it all written and then I kinda re did it all...so now I like it more. It was just kinda blah before...now its all emotional and stuff! You can thank Fanfic.net for the delay in getting this up...I'm still not even sure what the deal was, but at the same time it gave me the opportunity to re-do this chapter a bit...so there ya go.  
  
Thank you thank you to my wonderful reviewers. (I havent been able to read them all cuz ff.net is being all weird) Man I love you guys! You're all so nice! *hugs all the wonderful people who review*  
  
RedLion- YAY! Someone who agrees with me about the whole "wimp" (coughitsnotwimpy!cough) thing. It's just that some people get mega defensive about that stuff. (I've seen people through hissy fits in reviews about it...weirdos lol.)  
  
Beryl- Aww thanks...Now about Evan...I was thinking bout writing a fic with a lot of Evan...but hmm lol. I was gonna make it more about the brotherhood but focus on Evan and Pietro kinda sorta.. (In a friendship way only folks...but we aren't gonna get into that lol). Evan is fun to write cuz you get to make him up however you want lol. So anyways, if you've got any ideas pretty pleeeease lemme know ok?  
  
Kiki Cabou- Wow I love you! Hehe. I'm kinda proud of my grammar nerdyness...I'm editor of our school paper so I get lots of practice lol. But thank you so much.  
  
DBZsista- *GASP!!! You hafta read chapter 5! It's...aww man, you just hafta lol. But thank you so much, I'm honored to be a favorite hehe.  
  
JDH3- Yes, Kurtty does grow on you. I really like it now lol.  
  
  
  
Sprocket- You're my favorite! Hehe, no, no I love you all, but sprocket gave me a nice long review and said lotsa good stuff lol.   
  
Obviously I'm not gonna personally address everyone, so don't be offended if I didn't...thank you so much for your review anyway! I like reviews....PLEASE REVIEW!!! lol.  
  
I should have the final chapter up by the end of the week...if my computer can make it to the end of this week...stupid piece of machiner.....uhhh *to her comp* NO NO! I wasn't talking about you! Of course not...no! Oh no, please don't crash, please! I didn't mean it! Please just whatever you do don't....aww man! Overrated Microwave!!! *Ahem* Ok then...im done being an idiot for the moment....  
  
Also, I don't know why I chose to make Kurt a Celine Dion fan...I was obsessed with that song when I started this fic so there you have it. I don't own her music either in case you were wondering.  
  
One more thing, the whole thing with Kurt driving a Buick Skylark...*grins* That's what I drive. It's my first car. So, even though I'm driving an old man car, I love it, and now Kurt gets to experience the joys of a Buick too.   
  
Now I'm officially shutting up so you can read this chapter.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
  
Kurt slammed the refrigerator door closed with little satisfaction and glared at the blonde sitting at the table.   
  
"Evan, zat was za last of za milk!"  
  
Evan shrugged and set down his glass. "Sorry man. Gotta have the moo-juice. Strengthens bones."  
  
Kurt slumped into a chair and began to pick at the dry cereal in front of him. "Vell how do you expect me to eat zis?" His tone was harsh and annoyed.  
  
Evan looked at him and furrowed his brow. "It's just milk. Get some eggs or something."  
  
"Vell vaht if I don't vant eggs?"   
  
"Man, what's your problem? It's just food!"  
  
Kurt scowled. Vahtever. I'm out of here."  
  
Kurt stormed out of the kitchen as best he could with his lame ankle, punching the door frame as he did. 'I just yelled at Evan over milk...MILK!'  
  
Sighing, he headed for the back door of the mansion that led to the yard. He was so tired of just randomly blowing up at people. Evan had made it pretty clear that he was being, for lack of a better word, a 'jerkface,' (AN: I simply had to use that word. Inside joke..anyway...) but he truly didn't know what else to do.   
  
Since the dinner incident he had snapped several times at several people. Like the time when Jean asked for the remote because she was tired of watching animal planet. He had twisted it all into this big thing about how she really just didn't want to watch furry things and that maybe he should just leave instead. She had done nothing but give him a blank stare and he stormed out. It surprised him actually. He almost wanted her to snap back at him; to get him riled up so he could blow off more steam. On the other hand, it was better that she hadn't. He had hurt enough people already.   
  
He found that he was even unable to explain himself to Rogue. She made vain efforts to comfort him, but he couldn't except it from her. He wasn't exactly sure why either; they had never had a problem confiding in each other before. Maybe he just couldn't stand to see the hurt in her eyes every time she realized she was helpless in the situation. So he had resorted to spazzing out over stupid things with her as well, such as the time she asked to switch shower schedules with him since he didn't need to get up that early, not being in school and all. He had glared at her and started ranting in German about why everyone should just walk all over the fuzzy one because he wasn't in school anymore and therefor didn't have a care in the world.  
  
He sighed and pulled himself onto a tree branch, ignoring the searing pain it sent through his still tender shoulder. It was worth the agonizing effort though; it was calming to be perched up there by himself. He surveyed the yard and sighed again. He was losing it, he knew. He wasn't himself anymore; too lost in his anger to care if he was hurting people, something he hated doing.  
  
He toyed with the idea of trying to tick off Logan. At least he wouldn't be too hurt by his outbursts. Scott could probably take it too, but he basically refused to fight with him. Kurt had practically dared, no, begged Scott to start a raging verbal battle between them. Alas, the mighty leader had not lost his cool. Instead he left the room, cracking his knuckles as he went, the very picture of calmness.   
  
Kurt shook his head. Logan wouldn't have taken it. He would probably just run Kurt through with those insanely sharp claws of his. Death by adamantium was not particularly how Kurt wanted to leave this world.  
  
Clenching his eyes shut, Kurt grit his teeth. 'Why does it seem like the only way to make the pain stop is to hurt everyone else!'  
  
"Idiot" He said to the air, "Idiot, idiot idiot!"   
  
He jumped at the slight tug he felt on his tail. Regaining his balance he looked down to see Kitty smiling up at him. He had mumbled a few apologies to her since the night his tail had almost choked her. She had shrugged the whole thing off by then and said she knew he didn't mean it. Still, Kurt could barely look at her. Of all his outbursts, he had regretted that one the most.  
  
"I hope you like, aren't talking about me." She smiled warmly at him and winked. "Because I don't see any idiots around here. What are you doing out here all alone?" She asked as she hoisted herself into the tree.   
  
Kurt looked at her, trying to avoid her eyes, and shrugged. "Thinking."  
  
The two sat in silence for a moment before Kitty spoke up again.  
  
"So how are you Kurt?"  
  
Again, Kurt shrugged. "I'm alvight."  
  
Kitty reached over to him and gently put her hand on his arm. "No Kurt. How are you, really."  
  
Kurt looked up at the brunette and raised an eyebrow. "Truthfully?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Not good, not good at all. I'm just so...I dunno."  
  
"Go on." She urged gently.  
  
He hesitated. This whole admitting to emotional defeat thing was dangerous ground for a 16 year old male. However, this was a way to relieve himself of all the baggage without hurting anyone. He mentally weighed the two possibilities. "I'm- Uh, Jeez Kitty I'm jest so angry!" He unintentionally shouted the words, but it felt good to scream them; felt good to verbalize the pain. "You've heard me. I keep blowing up at anyvon who talks to me. I jest got finished yelling at Evan over milk! I don't even like cereal that much! I hate being like zis. I'm hurting people, people who I am supposed to be a friend to, but I don't know what else to do." He looked at Kitty, expecting her to interrupt him with advice of some kind. She was just looking at him, waiting for him to continue. There wasn't any pity in her face, sorrow maybe, but not pity. Kurt let out a groan and leaned against the tree trunk. He softened his voice, not wanting to intimidate Kitty more than he already had. "I- I don't know how to deal with all of zis. Zere just doesn't seem to be any other vay to handle it. It hurt Keety, and I don't mean zeir punches." He looked away from her, ashamed of his admittance to being weak and hurt emotionally. 'Good going Kurt... really impressive. Show her what a wuss you are. That's gonna help things. Every girl wants to be with an emotional basket case..." Shaking off his sarcastic and bitter thoughts he focused intently on dissolving the lump that had formed in his throat.   
  
Kitty's almond eyes focused on Kurt. She could see it in his face, the pain, the hurt. She never did understand why guys felt it was necessary to keep stuff all locked up, only to explode later on. She put her hand on his arm and forced him to face her. "Kurt, your gonna get through this. You just need time. Vent at people, yell, scream, when you get your strength back go to the danger room and tear stuff apart, whatever it takes for you to get it out. The others understand, why do you think you haven't been slapped for all your outbursts yet? They just don't know how to like, help. You know how much not being able to fix things bugs our fearless leader, he about punched through a wall that day you threw his being an orphan in his face. Do you seriously think he would have taken that if he didn't understand that you're just like, trying to work all this out?" She smiled a little. "So tell me what your thinking, how you feel, and don't be afraid to tell me you hurt, I'm not one of the guys you know, you like, don't have to pull that whole macho 'I'm tough so I can handle it' crap with me."   
  
Kurt looked up at Kitty, his failed attempts to rid his throat of the growing mass was now becoming evident in his wide, yellow, eyes. "I thought some of zose people ver my friends. Why does the real Kurt Wagner have to be any different from the holographic one? I feel like I vos targeted vorse than the rest of you for no other reason than I'm blue and have a tail. It just isn't right."  
  
He closed his eyes, in one final attempt to stop the dreaded tear from making its way past his eye lid.  
  
"No, it's not, and you like, need time to heal from all of that. It's ok, we know you need to just deal with it however you can. Just, like, don't lose yourself in the process ya know?" Kitty studied him a minute and put her hand on his cheek. "Kurt, look at me." The blue elf forced himself to meet her eyes, still fighting against the current of tears fighting to be released. "Kurt," her voice was hardly even a whisper and it caught slightly in her throat. Her eyes were becoming slightly bloodshot as a tear slid down her own cheek. "Kurt, It's ok to cry."  
  
Kurt let out a muffled choke as his tears fought for dominance. Part of him wanted to sob into the arms of the girl in front of him, and the other was too afraid to let them go. He inhaled sharply, he hadn't even been aware that he was holding his breath. The air caught in his throat, blocked by the large lump that he had been unable to remove.  
  
Kitty threaded her fingers through his silky blue hair, moving it gently away from his face, the tears falling without shame from her blue orbs. "Wha-at are you afraid of?"  
  
It was getting harder and harder to draw in air without his entire body shaking. Kurt looked at Kitty and shook his head. "I don't know." He couldn't hide the wavering, and the cracking in his voice. "I don't know anything right now."  
  
Kitty continued to softly twirl her fingers through his hair. "Don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you like they did. It's me Kurt, Katzchan."  
  
Kurt's vision blurred, and he jumped nimbly off of the tree branch. He turned and held his arms out to help Kitty down as well. She planted her feet on the ground, wrapped her arms tightly around Kurt and felt him burry his face into her neck. Shaking, he allowed the tears to fall.   
  
They weren't the same kind of tears he had cried the afternoon of the attack. Those had been from panic; the only way his body knew how to deal with the shock of being rendered so utterly helpless. These tears however, were raw emotion; weeks of anguish and anger being forced out of the tiny tear ducts of the young mutants eyes in the form of a salty fluid. He cried hard, but quietly, the only sound his muffled gasps for air. Growing weak from his over worked lungs, he felt his bruised body being pulled down by the gentle and firm embrace of Kitty, thinking only briefly that it was odd that she knew he needed to sit. Still wrapped in one another's arms, the pair kneeled somewhat awkwardly on the grass.   
  
Kitty began to hum softly; soothing the crying young man in her arms. His gasps for oxygen became less frequent, and he slowly raised his face to look at Kitty's. The two pairs of wet, bloodshot, eyes met for a brief moment and Kurt opened his mouth to break the precious silence between them. Kitty shook her head, and ran a finger over the damp fur beneath Kurt's eyes, indicating that he didn't need to say anything. The pair leaned back against the tree trunk and into each other for support and gazed out across the lawn.   
  
The two mutants sat in silence for nearly an hour. Each deep in their own thoughts. Kitty leaned further into Kurt and put her head on his shoulder. Kurt intertwined his tail with Kitty's wrist and closed his eyes. Kitty looked up at Kurt. She hesitated a little, not knowing if what she was about to do was a good idea. Brushing her thoughts aside, she went with her gut instinct that now was as good a time as any. She leaned forward and kissed Kurt softly.   
  
Shocked, Kurt immediately tensed up, his eyes wide open in surprise. He tried to relax slightly and, as a reflex, concentrated on not injuring Kitty. She pulled away, he cheeks pink with embarrassment.   
  
"I'm like, sorry. I- I just thought that, like..."  
  
"Vaht are you sorry for?" Kurt looked at her in surprise.   
  
"Well it like, didn't seem like you were really enjoying yourself much. I like, I dunno." Her face turned several shades redder.   
  
Kurt ran his fingers through his long hair and shifted nervously. "No, it'z not zat, I jest um, vell..."  
  
Kitty giggled nervously, "Your accents getting thicker Kurt, and your tail is doing that nervous flick thing. Just tell me."  
  
Sighing, Kurt grabbed his tail to hold it still, and forced himself to meet Kitty's eyes. "I don't vahnt to hurt you." He curled his lip and revealed his fangs, emphasizing his point.   
  
Kitty giggled again, this time less nervously. "You big dork. Just like, kiss me ok? The chances of you being a ferocious enough kisser to tear my lip apart are like zero to none! And worst case scenario...I wouldn't mind a lip ring."  
  
Kurt laughed sheepishly. "Um, Keety?" his voice grew softer, "Vhy- vhy did you kiss me?"  
  
Kitty gave him a funny look. "Well I don't know, why else would you kiss someone?"   
  
Kurt looked at her and smiled, the first real smile Kitty had seen on him since his image inducer had bit the dust.   
  
He leaned over to her and paused, "Keety? Vaht are we? You and me I mean..."  
  
Kitty shrugged a little and moved her face inches away from Kurt's. "You tell me."  
  
Kurt closed the gap between them and kissed her.  
  
Kitty momentarily broke the kiss and grinned. "See, you aren't an animal after all." She giggled for the umpteenth time.   
  
Kurt grinned in reply, bringing her lips once again to his own. This time, without any distractions, not even his fangs.  
  
  
  
*Tear* lol...this is NOT the end! I got one more chapter that sorta wraps it all up. PLEASE REVIEW!!! I'm starting to thrive off of those things lol. 


	8. 8

So here it is my dear readers. (I have readers! Woooow) Anyway, this is the final chapter and I hope you enjoy. It's not as goopy as the last few, (Im sorry! Lol) but I think this may be my favorite chapter (just cuz I wanna gag at my own cheesyness at times lol and this chapter has less cheese...I hope)  
  
Hmm, sequel, sequel....sequel? I am thinking about it (thinking being the keyword) I'm just not sure what it would be about. I can't give the poor elf too much more drama, poor guy isn't indestructible ya know lol. I've pondered an original character but ehhh, those tend to go crazy. But I am open to any and all ideas, so if you want to see a sequel, help me out here, any random thought could help (P.S. If anyone has ideas for a fic for Evan...I just need any random thoughts here as well...)  
  
  
  
I love ppl who review. You're all my bestest friends. (Yes, I feel the need to mutilate grammar in the author notes) The thing says I have 45 reviews, but I've only seen like half that between my email and ff.net itself, so im annoyed, but please review, pleeease.  
  
P.S. I am still very sorry for the darn fuzzy one's accent...ick lol. *winks at cheesy monkey*  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
  
Kurt rolled over lazily in his bed. He could hear Evan yelling his head off at Rogue to  
  
hurry up before they were both late. He laughed to himself. Logan had announced that the  
  
bathroom problem would be solved by the weekend, but no one believed him.   
  
Kitty phased her head through the door, eyes closed. "Are you decent? Can I come in?"  
  
Kurt grinned and sat up. "Yep."  
  
"Ok, so in English Evan says your essays on Hamlet are due, and in history you need to  
  
turn in that one worksheet. I got those notes to you right?"  
  
Kurt grinned and handed her a stack of papers. "I've got it all." He had been working like  
  
crazy the past week to catch up with all his school work. The professor and Storm had been  
  
tutoring him during the afternoons and he was turning in assignments via the other X-Men.   
  
"Ok, so I'll see you after school then? Hey! You like, get to have your cast off today  
  
right?"  
  
"Nien, tomorrow."  
  
"Oh, well that's ok. One more day. Well I gotta go before I'm late and Scott like, takes off  
  
without me. See you this afternoon." She bent over, brushed her lips against Kurt's cheek, and  
  
took off at a run through his door.   
  
Kurt grinned. He still wasn't exactly sure what to label his and Kitty's relationship, but he knew it was only a matter of time before there wasn't even a question as to what they were.   
  
Sinking into his pillow, his smile grew. Since that day at the tree his unpredictable snapping and outbursts had lessened. They hadn't totally disappeared, but when he was being particularly reflective about the past events, the anger would return. Being able to talk to Kitty about what was going on in his head helped immensely, and the cold 'you have no right to have a cow over this,' stares that Evan shot him from time to time kept his outbursts in check for the most part.  
  
Even with the help of his friends however, the pain wasn't leaving. The bitterness he felt about his appearance was a daily struggle. He had even gone so far as stashing his full length mirror into his closet, so that he wouldn't have to look at himself every morning. He had tried as best he could to explain it to Kitty, but he didn't even know himself yet, how to explain his thoughts, or what his thoughts even were. He was jealous a lot, and he didn't like that. It was to uncharacteristic for him to be mentally analyzing and comparing his appearance to that of Scott or Evan. He wished there was some way to speed the whole healing process up. That's what Kitty kept calling it, the 'healing process,' and he guessed that explained it rather well.  
  
Kurt snapped back to reality, his smile fading as he remembered the professor had wanted to see him this morning. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like the topic of discussion.   
  
Groaning, he forced himself to get off of his bed and to the shower. Rolling his eyes, he removed the row of spikes lodged in the bathroom door. 'Poor Rogue.'  
  
He took his time in the shower, trying his best to procrastinate his meeting with Xavier.  
  
Pulling his shirt over his head he thought of teleporting to the old man's office, then changed his  
  
mind. His strength was returning, but teleporting may set him back a little.  
  
He paused in front of the door that led to Xavier's meeting room. He had been in it only a  
  
few times and it was rarely under pleasant circumstances. Bracing himself, he raised his hand to  
  
knock.  
  
~Come on in Kurt~  
  
Jumping slightly, Kurt opened the door. The professor smiled at him and gestured for him  
  
to sit down.  
  
"Morning pofessor." Kurt greeted.  
  
"Good morning Kurt. Take a seat."  
  
Kurt did so and waited for the professor to start talking. He braced himself. He had a feeling he knew what was coming. The professor probably wanted him back in school. Or maybe he was about to receive a lecture about his outbursts. Someone had told him that he'd made Wolfsbane cry or something like that, maybe she had gone to the professor in a big dramatic fuss.  
  
"Listen Kurt, let's skip the formalities, I can sense you're nervous. I'm, well all of us, are  
  
just concerned for you. We've noticed you seem to be acting a little more like yourself as of late, but to be honest, you can't just wonder around the mansion the rest of your life. Storm and I are more than willing to continue tutoring you from here, but you need to decide if that's what you really want."  
  
'Ah, so I'm going to get a therapy lesson. Just great. Like I really want to listen to a big speech about how to find inner peace with yourself. It would be just like the proff to tell me some deep mumbo jumbo that sails right over my head.'  
  
The professor paused and wheeled closer to Kurt. "Listen, what you experienced was terrible, and I'd do anything in my power to change it, but unfortunately there is nothing any of us can do. You are going to go through more in your lifetime than any human being should have to endure simply because you are different, but if I know anything about you Kurt Wagner, you're going to pull out of all this just fine."  
  
Kurt looked up at the professor more than a little confused. "Is zat all you wanted to tell  
  
me? Zat I'm going to be just fine?"  
  
The professor nodded, laughing slightly. "Listen Kurt, you're going to need time to heal  
  
from this, but I just wanted you to know that it's time you really sat down and thought about all  
  
that has happened. I don't want you getting swallowed by grief, dark and moody really doesn't  
  
suit you. You're dealing with this better than I expected actually, I don't feel the need to put you through some type of 'therapy' session.'" A mischievous grin spread across Xavier's face. "Sorry, but you real should be careful about what you're projecting."  
  
'Darn telepaths.' Kurt felt his ears burn and laughed slightly. "Professor?"  
  
"Yes, Kurt?"  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Anytime...what is it you call yourself? Fuzzy Dude?"  
  
Kurt laughed, "Ja, zat's me."  
  
Kurt left the professor's office and wondered aimlessly down the hall. He had gotten himself all prepared for an obnoxiously deep meeting for nothing. He appreciated it though. For some reason, having the professor tell him he was dealing with this is in the right way was reassuring.   
  
He paused as an orangish light caught his eye. It was coming from a room he'd never been in, and the door was slightly ajar. His ears pricked up and he looked over his shoulder before peering into the dimly lit room.   
  
'What is this? It's like some odd form of a chapel.'  
  
He peered around the makeshift sanctuary, wondering why he had never seen it before.  
  
Directly opposite the door was a large stained glass window casting an orange light across the  
  
floor and flooding into the hallway. Smaller windows were on either side, letting in a cool  
  
breeze. On one wall, there were rows of books, and on the other large paintings of biblical  
  
scenes. Kurt gazed up at them with fascination. He heard a soft wrinkle of paper and turned  
  
around. In the far corner of the room there was a bible laying on top of a podium, it's pages  
  
flipping idly in the breeze.   
  
"Peaceful room isn't it."  
  
Kurt jumped at the sound of the professor's voice. "Oh, sorry professor. I didn't mean to  
  
intrude or anysing."  
  
"No, no, you're fine Kurt. You're more than welcome in here whenever you like. I've  
  
been meaning to tell you kids it's here."  
  
"Uh, thanks." Kurt turned back around and began looking over the rows of books lined up  
  
along the wall.  
  
"See Kurt, I forget that sometimes, people find their answers in different ways. Me, I find them in research and science, Scott finds them in control, not necessarily dominance, but his ability to maintain control in situations helps him get through things. Just between you and me, I think it has something to do with him not being able to operate his powers fully. For others, however, faith is what helps them remain on the right path, and find the answers they need to move on. I must admit, mine and Scott's methods are weak, and fail us many times. People that thrive from faith tend to grasp the help they need better and faster than any one else. As a result, I had this room set up for any students who wanted to use it for whatever personal reasons they may need answers for. A way of coping, if you will."  
  
Kurt tilted his head to look at the professor.   
  
"I'll leave the room to you for now. Remind me to tell the others about it alright?" He wheeled away and Kurt immediately began to absorb himself in the paintings and book titles.   
  
The Bible caught his attention again and he walked over to it. The wind flipped a few  
  
pages and Kurt absentmindedly placed his finger on the thin paper to hold it down. Curious, he read the lines his finger had stopped on. 'I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.' (AN: Psalms 139:14-16)  
  
Kurt reread the passage over and over again until he could have recited it backwards.  
  
'...Fearfully and wonderfully made...' He raised an eyebrow and looked at the paintings covering  
  
the wall. 'Fearfully and wonderfully made?'  
  
"Kurt there you are!"   
  
The blue mutant jumped and looked up to see Kitty standing in the doorway.   
  
"Vaht are you doing home?"  
  
Kitty giggled. "It's like, a long story. It involves Scott falling down a flight of stairs and a  
  
very unamused Jean though."  
  
Kurt gave her a funny look. "Sounds like it might be an interesting story to hear."  
  
"It is, I'll tell you about it in the kitchen where Scott's being bandaged up."  
  
Kurt headed toward the hall and paused in the doorway. 'Beautifully and wonderfully made.' He glanced down at his three fingered hands, and his long slender tail. 'Beautifully and wonderfully made...at least to Someone...by Someone.' He glanced once again at the paintings. He wasn't sure what he thought yet. His brain's reaction was to spit at the bible and walk away from it. After all, how could that verse apply to everyone when he looked the way he did. However, his gut instinct, and his heart, could not dismiss those words. He slowly realized that he was believing the verse, believing that he was 'beautifully and wonderfully made' with yellow eyes and two toed feet.   
  
"Hey Kitty?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"I think- I think I may go back to school tomorrow."  
  
Kitty tilted her head to one side. "Are you sure?"  
  
Kurt looked back into the room and at the stained glass window. "Ja, I'm sure. I think-I think zat maybe I'm not as alone in all zis as I may have thought. See, maybe- maybe God is in all zis with me. I need a little more time to think about zat, but something tells me zis is going to be a lot easier after today." He slid his hand into hers and squeezed it gently. "Kitty, I know zat I'm kinda all mixed up at za moment, and zat now may not be za most perfect time to start a new relationship, but I'm going to ask anyway. Keetty..."  
  
"Yes." she interrupted. "A thousand times yes, even if you are a little screwy in the head right now." she giggled softly.   
  
Kurt wrapped his tail around her wrist and grinned at her. "I vahnt to show you zis verse sometime, but not today, not yet."  
  
Smiling, Kitty gently kissed Kurt's cheek. "I would love to hear it whenever you'd like."  
  
The newly formed couple walked down the hall, hand in hand. Kurt looked over his shoulder at the orange light dancing on the ground. Smiling, he pulled Kitty closer to him. 'Yeah, things are definitely going to get better soon.'  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
TA DA!!! The End. Ok, sooo...comments? I think my least favorite part about this fic is the fact that the whole Kurt and his fur and Kitty issues has been slightly overdone. But then again, I'm in this phase at the moment where I love this goopy stuff so there ya go ; ) Please let me know what you thought! PRETTY PLEASE!! Zank you. 


	9. Info on the Sequel

Yeah, I know, a bunch of author's notes...whoopdeedoo.  
  
Ok, it's official. There WILL be a sequel to 'Healing.' I'm not totally sure what I'm gonna do yet so PLEASE keep the random suggestions coming. Even if I don't use them, they help me out a lot! I have a few ideas, but I need to figure out a basic plot before I start writing, otherwise I end up with like one chapter that's going nowhere. I currently have 3 fics in my computer that are just sitting without a plot line yet lol.(I WILL finish at least one of them one day!)   
  
It will probably be awhile before I start posting the sequel because 1) I'm leaving for camp in like 2 days, and when I get back I have some relatives visiting. And 2) I have this thing against posting a chapter before I'm totally done with the fic. (I at least need to have a rough draft done) Because I tend to change things around a lot before I'm satisfied.  
  
I have a feeling that my main focus will be on Kitty this time. Kurt's already been through a whole lot of trauma, so it'd be unfair to unload on him all over again, but I promise our fuzzy dude will still play a shining role hehe. I'm definitely adding more Evan too.   
  
Anyway, thank you soooo much for all your reviews....keep em coming lol.   
  
Thanks again,  
  
Sailor X 


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